THE GOPHER SNAKE

Norman here, it was yet another exciting day at Life Inside The Fence, at least for us dogs. We had another crawly critter show up, a gopher snake with an attitude. Now normally we try to avoid crawly critters simply because of the one called Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, which is extremely venomous. But this gopher snake was freakin nuts. He nailed Toby on his rear left paw as Toby (believe it or not) was minding his own business sending Mom into hysterics and she ran screaming across the yard toward Toby totally convince that a rattler had gotten him. I’m not sure whether Toby was more freaked out by the snake or by Mom’s shrieking. Anyway, Toby tucked tail and bolted, hiding under the porch steps leaving me, Scuba and Keiko trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. Finally Mom realized that it was a gopher snake and calmed down, but that was of little consolation to Toby who was quite content to remain beneath the steps thus avoiding both the crazy snake and crazy Mom.
Now this snake just didn’t want to leave. Mom’s pretty good at hooking them with the hoe and walking them down the road a bit but the snake just started acting all crazy, coiling and hissing, even striking at Mom (don’t worry, she’s smart enough not to get that close, I think). Eventually the snake did go under the house so we expect to see it again sometime soon. For more information on Gopher Snakes and how they benefit the environment, please visit the Desert USA web site.

THE EVIL CREATURE

TOP DOG SCUBA STEERS KEIKO AWAY FROM THE SNAKE

TOBY CONFRONTS HIS ATTACKER